This special issue aims at providing a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and tissue stem cell fields, a detailed review of directed stem cell differentiation and lessons learnt from human development, and a realistic perspective for use of stem cell-derived somatic cells in medicine. In addition, it will explore the use of stem cell-derived cells in cellular engineering strategies and discuss the ethics behind the use of stem cells in developing novel therapies.

We invite authors to present original research articles as well as review articles that will focus on human stem cell-derived therapeutics. The topics to be considered include, but are not limited to:

• Pluripotent stem cells
• Tissue stem cells
• Cellular reprogramming
• Directed differentiation: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm
• Translating human development to in vitro models
• Defining stem cell differentiation
• Stem cell bioenergetics
• Stem cell niche
• Stem cell transplantation and cancer
• Stem cell therapy
• Stem cell engineering
• Stem cell ethics

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jbb/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/, according to the following timetable: